44 APRIL-MAY 2025 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL as a place of opportunity, and they are pursuing immigration as a way to break out of difficult economic circumstances. With few opportunities for higher education or careers beyond unskilled labor, these applicants have spent years preparing for a move to the United States and, through networks of contacts in the diaspora, have plans to establish themselves through a job in a family-run business. Anecdotally, the notion of the United States as a land of possibilities is not limited by socioeconomic status. Regardless of where they come from, many IV applicants are motivated by the idea of giving their children greater opportunities. A lot of this comes out in discussions about education; Vietnamese have placed a premium on English language instruction (there is a nationwide belief in the importance of speaking English proficiently), and many see a U.S. education as a ticket to a brighter future for their children. The stories that applicants tell, and their motivations for immigrating to the U.S., are also reflections of a kind of pragmatism that is a noticeable characteristic of today’s Vietnam. The United States is very popular in Vietnam—overwhelmingly so in public opinion polls—and Vietnamese people focus on the United States as a rich country full of opportunity, not as a former adversary. Very few people mention the war, and a majority of the population was born well after 1975. Landmarks from the fall of Saigon are visited mainly by tourists, and the site of the famous 1975 photograph of evacuees boarding a helicopter is atop a nondescript office building that is easy to miss. But the IV applicant pool also tells us a lot about our own country. The Vietnamese diaspora in the United States has grown to an estimated 1.5 to 2 million over the last 50 years, and the core of that diaspora comes from the south—those who were allied with the United States, who lived in Central or South Vietnam, and mainly arrived in California or Texas in the 1970s or 1980s. Increasingly, though, destinations of Vietnamese IV applicants go well beyond the west and southwest—from Bauxite, Arkansas, to Raleigh, North Carolina. Knowing how new Vietnamese immigrants start out in the United States gives greater context to and appreciation for those who have become well known, such as former U.S. Representative Stephanie Murphy, who was born in HCMC, or Dat Nguyen, who was born in a refugee center in Arkansas and played middle linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. The lure of opportunity, a focus on the future, and a diaspora that contributes to the fabric of the United States are not unique U.S. Marines at plaque honoring members of the military who died defending the embassy in 1968. U.S. CONSULATE HO CHI MINH CITY
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